Conflagration

Last night, the fires burned closer.

The night before, they burned on the other side of the Twin Cities where I live. Stores and apartment buildings glowing orange in the night while flames consumed them. Broken windows spilling their contents to looters who smashed and grabbed and ran.

Last night, the fires burned closer to home.

To the Super Target store where we’ve bought groceries and clothes and our pillows and the chairs surrounding our dining room table right now.

They burned near a used bookstore I frequent. Near the Chinese restaurant we go for takeout. Not too far from the college my niece attends and where she used to live before the pandemic hit. Near the large soccer stadium where I took my son to an MLS game last season.

And then last night, the looting crept closer still. To the jewelry store catty corner from my partner’s favorite…